dig
by aussiechick00
Summary: Charlie Salter is sixteen. she has been arrested for trying to steal a bag of jewellery from an expensive shop and has been sent to camp green lake disguised as a boy. but there's one kid there that she can't seem to fool.... X-rayxOC
1. Chapter 1

Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig. Charlie stabbed her shovel into the burning, iron hard dirt. She jammed her shovel underneath a crack. Then she pushed back hard and leapt on top of her shovel, falling as the dirt cap went flying. X-ray and a few other kids called Tiny, Scar and Talon all laughed from their holes on the lake that were already quite deep. Charlie grinned and pulled her hat back on. If anyone found out she was a girl she would get killed, shot like a yellow spotted lizard. So instead of being a girl and looking down on the boys idiocy, she just scoffed and threw a dirt clod at X-ray. he fell backwards onto the floor of his hole and laughed with the others.

"nice arm, Splits," he grunted simply and began to dig his hole again. It was Charlie's second day at Camp green lake. She had been caught trying to steal a whole bag full of jewels to support her family. The more Charlie thought on it the angrier she became and so she dug more. The Sun hadn't risen properly yet so she couldn't see that well, but it didn't matter if she could see or not. Digging was about throwing your shovel randomly and throwing out a whole shovelful of dirt, not about accuracy. Second hole's the hardest, Charlie reminded herself as she flipped her shovel behind her head. She had strong arms from doing hours of strict gymnastics training, but they were strong for holding weight and for good posture, not for repeated muscle straining. But after a few hours, eventually Charlie dug in synchronisation and rhythm. She enjoyed a good beat and began humming. She hummed louder as she got deeper, so there wouldn't be much change in the volume, but soon X-ray wandered over to her.

"whatcha humming, Splits?" he asked gruffly. Charlie squinted her eyes up at him. His dark handsome figure was almost all she could see when he blocked out the Sun.

"nothin', what's it to ya?" she responded. X-ray shrugged and sat down on the edge of her hole.

"why are you sitting there, X-ray?" Talon asked. X-ray shrugged again, stretching his toned arms in a large circle and then bringing them behind his head.

"fine, ignore me then," Talon added, continuing his hole. X-ray yawned and lay down.

"second holes the hardest, am I right?" he said. Charlie grunted in agreement. She glanced at his hole, which was already finished. Then she looked at X-ray, amazed he had decided to stay in the Sun instead of heading to the Wreck room. She hoped it was because of her, though she doubted it since X-ray thought she was a boy like everyone else did. She stopped digging for a moment and rested her head on her shovel. The water truck had come an hour ago and her canteen was already empty.

"can I tell you something?" X-ray asked. Charlie glanced up at him and nodded,

"uh huh, what?" she muttered. She continued to stab the dirt that was still hard. X-ray didn't say anything for a while. Charlie wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her grubby hand. She had never been particularly girly but she still felt uncomfortable while she was so dirty.

"you're not what you seem are you?" X-ray said. Charlie looked at him. She felt mystified that he could tell.

"how so?" she asked. X-ray spat at random towards his own hole.

"you're lying about who you are, but not what you did, am I right?" he grumbled. Charlie felt a smile creep across her lips. She continued to dig absent minded, ignoring the blisters from the day before.

"you're a,"

"what are you still doing here Rex?" Mr pendanski. X-ray winced as the counsellor placed his hand on his shoulder. Mr Pendanski glanced down at Charlie.

"hey mom!" the other boys shouted. Mr Pendanski smiled at them and then turned back to Charlie.

"you done yet Charlie Moore?" he asked. Charlie squinted up at him and put on her boy voice.

"nearly, I've got about a foot to go," she tried, rubbing her forehead again. Mr Pendanski sighed and took X-ray back to camp. So Charlie dug silently for who knows how long. The others didn't talk much and they pretty much pretended she wasn't there. Charlie thought about X-ray a lot, because he was nice to her. X-ray was a strange kid. He had been at camp green lake for three months now, hated it. He said if Charlie found anything she should give it to him, coz he hadn't ever found anything. She chuckled. His name was an odd one for him, he had told her it was because he could see through people as if they were glass, which Charlie highly doubted. She checked her hole for depth. It truly did have about a foot to go before it was finished. She sighed, blowing her dark brown hair out of her face. Sometimes she would want to brush it so it looked nice, but she couldn't afford a brush. So instead when she thought she wanted a new hairstyle, she grabbed a pair of scissors and whacked it shorter. Right now it was cut right up so there was barely any body at all. Which added to why she was thought to be a boy. She was already covered in dirt from the holes she had dug, so no one could properly see her face. Fortunately. Charlie flung out a large clod of dirt and saw a little scorpion wriggle its way out of the dirt and fall into the hole. She screamed loudly and fell over. Tiny, Scar and Talon ran over. They chuckled when they saw the scorpion.

"what are you doing Splits?" they said. Charlie scoffed and kicked the scorpion up onto Talon's arm. Talon screamed and batted at it madly, flailing like an idiot. Tiny, Scar and Charlie laughed as he squirmed and flailed and screamed.

"dude, the scorpion's gone, man," Tiny said, laughing harder. Talon righted himself and cleared his throat.

"I could handle it, I knew it was gone," he lied. Then his straight face turned to a grin and they all laughed again. Soon after the others had finished digging and had gone to the wreck room with X-ray. Charlie continued to dig, feeling blisters on her hands sore. Her hands were already callused, but they still hurt. She checked her hole again. It seemed the right height and width. She felt relief wash over her like rain. Slowly, she levered herself up out of her hole. She looked up at the bright blue sky. The hottest part of the day had already past and now it was slightly colder. But she didn't mind heat or cold. It was one of the benefits of living on the streets, she was grateful for anything she had. And usually what she had was freezing nights and freezing days. So being hot was okay by her. She looked down at her hole with a feeling of accomplishment in her veins. She took a drink from her nearly empty canteen, swallowed, and then spat into her respectable hole.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

it had been about a week since Charlie had arrived. She was sentenced to twenty one months at Camp green lake. Just twenty to go, Charlie told herself. she knew it was actually better than the way she usually lived, but this place was generally depressing to her. She would probably go mad after a while. She had discovered that now that she was used to it, she was an extremely fast digger, and had finished long before anyone else. She realised she had never met the Warden. The Warden lived in a cabin at one area of the lake, so Charlie didn't care. She expected it was a man. And she expected him to be very mean. She saw X-ray fall into the wreck room after a bit. He fell into a chair a few meters away from Charlie's spot at the TV.

"what's up X-ray?" she asked. X-ray grunted. He glanced at Charlie.

"I know who you are you know," he said. Charlie stared at him, searching for his eyes so she could understand. His eyes were rather beautiful, she realised when she found them. he had a beautiful face that was hidden by his glasses.

"and what's that?" Charlie asked. She rubbed the back of her neck gently. X-ray smirked.

"you're not even a," Scar stormed in angrily. He had a mean red scratch across his cheek.

"just caught the Warden on a bad day," he grumbled as Charlie and X-ray stared at it. "she grabbed Tiny's shovel and smacked it across my bloody face!" he shouted. He kicked the TV angrily. X-ray scoffed. Charlie blinked when Scar said "she" and then grinned at Scar.

"figures," he muttered. Scar kicked him in the leg, "ow dude! Uncalled for!" X-ray responded loudly, standing up and grabbing Scar around the neck. Charlie rolled her eyes and yanked the two off each other.

"you want the Warden to hit you again?" she warned. Scar flinched, "then quit it," an order, not a suggestion. Scar glared at X-ray and stormed out. X-ray laughed and Charlie flipped round to him and folded her arms.

"don't think you're off the hook, Mister," she said. She was shorter than X-ray by a bit so her attempt of being intimidating was only backed up by her sharp wit. X-ray rolled his eyes with a smirk plastered to his face.

"you could've hurt him, do you want Mr Sir or the Warden to find out us lot have been fighting? They'll gut us if they find out, may I remind you," Charlie scolded, backing X-ray up against a wall with her finger at his nose.

"they'll gut you if they find out about you too," X-ray joked, "may I remind you," he added. Charlie lowered her arm and raised an eyebrow

"find out what?" she said, trying to sound less nervous than she was. X-ray chuckled and grabbed her elbow, and yanked her outside to one of the tents. He checked around the entire place, but luckily for him, it was empty apart from himself and Charlie.

"what are you doing X-ray?" Charlie asked. X-ray blew his lips and wandered over to Charlie. He grabbed her shoulders so she would pay attention.

"I know everything, I know why you are so short, why your voice is still so high," he began, "I even know why you don't take that hat off. I know why you demand everything, I know why you are so much like the Warden," he told her. Charlie grimaced at the thought of being anything like the Warden, though she had never met her. X-ray pulled Charlie's attention back.

"you're not even a boy are you? Charlie-Ann," he said, feeling triumphant. Charlie couldn't find the words to speak. She didn't understand how he knew. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said. X-ray rolled his eyes.

"oh please!" he laughed and pushed off Charlie's hat. He used his sleeve to rub the dirt off Charlie's grubby face. Then he grinned, "I knew it," he said and pushed Charlie's hair up. Charlie glared at him.

"don't tell," she snapped. X-ray laughed

"why would I do that? If I don't tell then at least I have something to hold against you," he teased. Charlie hit his arm

"swear it!" she spat. X-ray pushed her back.

"I will when you stop hitting me," he said. Charlie growled and turned on her feet, heading for the door, "but you'd better be careful, it's shower day today," X-ray warned as Charlie left.

Charlie looked round the corner of the shower room. She didn't want to go in, considering there were guys in there and they would be freaked out, at least one would, but she knew she had to sometime. Charlie swallowed. She looked around and slowly slunk inside. There was no steam, because the showers were short, but she was unnoticed by the boys who were silent as usual. The showers had no doors in front of the cubicles apart from a small swinger which covered them pretty well. Charlie didn't really mind that they were there, but she had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. All four boys were staring up at the showerhead, getting every drop. Charlie sat down in the corner of the room.

"I wonder why Splits isn't here?" Tiny asked. X-ray stiffened up and kept looking away from the others.

"yeah, he acts weird at bed time too, he might be cool but he's weird too," Talon said. Charlie scoffed silently. A few minutes later the boys finished their showers and left. The room was empty aside from Charlie. Slowly she stood up and ran over to the showers. She quickly undressed, so no one would notice and ran in. She let the shower run on her face and arms and legs everywhere. It wasn't everyday that she got water for free here. Suddenly though, the water stopped running. She stared in suspicion at the shower head for a moment and then heard footsteps behind her. She flipped round. X-ray screamed and then Charlie screamed and covered what she needed to. X-ray stood there, trying hard to smother his laughter.

"don't do that!" Charlie pleaded, turning crouching down so she was almost completely hidden. X-ray turned round the corner so she could change and so he could laugh. Charlie's face was bright red as she grabbed her work clothes and yanked them on. She was still dripping wet and so shook of quickly, knowing that most of the water would evaporate in the heat of the camp. She stepped outside next to X-ray with her arms folded, blushing madly.

"don't worry, my eyesight's so bad I barely noticed you were there, plus I just came to pick up my socks, I forgot them," X-ray promised and slipped past her. "You're so lucky it was me though, I am so holding that over you," he laughed. Charlie blew a raspberry sharply. X-ray chuckled as he trotted out of the showers. He looked at Charlie straight on. "hope you're not planning to do that every time I joke around," he commented, pushing past her towards the tent.


End file.
